www.axios.com By Barak Ravid
The Biden administration is unlikely to engage with Jewish supremacist politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is expected to be a senior minister in a future Israeli government formed by Benjamin Netanyahu, two U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: No official decision has been made yet, but if the Biden administration does boycott Ben-Gvir, it will mark an unprecedented development that would likely have negative consequences for the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
- Israel’s extreme right parties saw unprecedented success in Tuesday’s election, with the Jewish supremacist Religious Zionism list set to win 14 seats — the highest number of seats for the radical right in the history of Israel.
Driving the news: Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of supporting a terror organization and inciting racism, said he wants to be the minister of internal security, a post that would put him in charge of the Israeli police and policies around Jerusalem’s holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
- His political partner, Bezalel Smotrich, said he wants to be defense minister, a role that also oversees Israeli policy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza and approves settlement building. Smotrich has a history of making racist remarks about Arab citizens of Israel.
- Because Netanyahu will have to rely on the two extreme right politicians to pass laws to stop his corruption trial, they will have a lot of leverage to get the positions and the policies they want.
Behind the scenes: U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan hinted at the possibility of not working with Ben-Gvir and other right-wing extremists during their meetings last week with Israeli President Isaac Herzog…
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